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 enlarge | Author: Trevor Dann
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $7.63
You Save: $9.32 (55%)
New (19) Used (10) from $4.24
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 426202
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0306815206
Dewey Decimal Number: 921
EAN: 9780306815201
ASIN: 0306815206
Publication Date: September 11, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: New - Has remainder mark. Fast shipping from trusted wholesaler with many exclusive publisher contracts.
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 6-8 of 8 | | « PREV | | |
 the 2nd book of nick January 19, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
While it has been compared to Patrick Humphries scholarly biography, for not having revealed new insight, it does act as a worthy companion. Especially for Drake'o'philes. Much like his posthumous recordings, they are not definitive, but every new little artifact helps piece a bit more of this man's remarkable (and very short) career together.
Easy to read, but tinged w/some speculation November 4, 2006
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Dann's writing style makes this book perhaps more user friendly than Humphries. I enjoyed the book, with the exception of some speculative aspects, especially concerning possible childhood abuse and his characterization of Nick as a much heavier drug user than the majority of the sources suggest. All evidence available points to a loving family, with a sister still dedicated to preserving her brother's legacy to this day. It could be easy to see how a Father hoping his son would become a doctor or engineer like himself might be disappointed with a musical career choice, but there is nothing to indicate anything untoward. Had there been, perhaps Nick would have gone to live with good friend Billy Squier, rather than go home to Far Leys towards the end. The book is easy to read and with a more streamlined approach than Humphries, with all it's information on the music scene in London in the late 60's. But then, Humphries didn't go to Cambridge as a student and request Nick's old room number, as Dann evidently did. Both books together dovetail nicely, but in Joe Boyd's brief chapters on Nick in White Bicyles, the man came alive more than in either of these two books.
 Definitive, well written and authoratative April 5, 2006
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
This book is a real achievement. Trevor Dann has done what no one has done before for Nick Drake. Based upon extensive research and careful reconstruction of known data Dann has put together a coherent description of Nick's childhood, school years, recording years and final decline. Important new facts were uncovered, many of which were crucial to the assembly of a coherent understanding of Nick's life, music and death.
I never understood how someone with such talent, from a background of such privilege and from a much touted loving home found so little solace, in the love and support that family provided when he was depressed because his records didn't sell. Now I believe I understand.
Questions about his sexual orientation are answered from new interviews, in the words of many people who knew him.
In short, after reading this book, all of the remaining questions that I had regarding Nick have been answered, and what is more, the answers "feel right".
The book is also a wonderful read. It is very well written, and each sentence is packed with information. There is no sense of things having been added as filler. All such supporting materials are put in appendices at the back of the book. This is an extraordinary first book for Dann, tackling a difficult subject, three decades after Drake's death; it surely is an excellent example of careful, respectful, forensic research, that comes off both literate and authoritative.
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